Aesthetics of Horror

“Making Special”PostmodernismAesthetic Formalism is a Modernist perspective in contrast to Postmodern or “Making Special”

We have 3+ theories by which to judge something art. What are they? Explain one?

Aesthetic Formalism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up formalism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

In art theory formalism is the concept that a work's artistic value is entirely determined by its form--the way it is made, its purely visual aspects and its medium. Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture rather than Realism, context, and content. Formalism dominated modern art from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

Color

An element of art which has three properties. (1) Hue, which is the name of a color. For example, red, yellow, blue. (2) Intensity, which refers to the brightness and purity of a color. For example, bright red or dull red. (3) Value, which refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.

Line

LineYou probably know what a line is, but just incase you don't, it is a continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point.

There are mainly two types of lines, emphasizing lines and de-emphasizing lines.

Emphasizing LinesEmphasizing lines are better known as contour lines. They show and outline the edges or contours of an object. Contour lines separate objects from one another. When artists stresses contours or outlines in their work, the piece are usually described as linear.

De-emphasizing LinesNot all artists emphasize line in their work. Some even try to hide the outline of objects in their pictures. The term painterly is used when describing works that does not stresses the contours or outlines of objects.

Lines and MovementLines are also used to suggest movement in some direction. Lines are used in certain ways gives people different feelings. Some lines may help you feel calm and relaxed while others could make you feel tense and uneasy.

Horizontal LinesSuggest calmness and usually makes people feel relaxed. Picture sitting on a beach and looking down at the big flat ocean. Doesn't that feel relaxing??

Vertical LinesSuggest strength and stability. Try thinking of a big tall vertical skyscraper or a tall lightest. What does that make you feel?

Shape

Shapes are flat and has only 2 dimensions, height and width.

Forms are 3 dimensional objects with height, width and depth. Therefore forms have mass and volume.

Texture

TextureTexture is used to describe the surface quality of an object. It refers to how things feel, or look as if they might feel if you were able to touch it.

Texture isn't always physical, could be suggested. You couldn't always feel a texture, but you could always sense it with your eyes.

Composition

Balance

Diagetic Sound

Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source within the film's world is diegetic. If it originates outside the film (as most background music) then it is non-diegetic.

A further distinction can be made between external and internal diegetic sound. In the first clip from Almodóvar's Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios, 1988) we hear Iván speaking into the microphone as he works on the Spanish dubbing of Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954). Since he is speaking out loud and any other character could hear him, this is an example of external diegetic sound. This clip has no non-diegetic sounds other than the brief keyboard chord that introduces the scene.

URL: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysisLast Modified: August 27, 2002Certifying Authority: Film Studies ProgramCopyright © 2002 Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520

Non-Diagetic Sound

Sound and diegesis gets more complicated in the next clip, from Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Italy, 1996). As Anna looks at Paolo Uccello's famous painting of the Battle of San Romano (c1435), we begin to hear the sounds of the battle: horses whimpering, weapons clashing, etc. These sounds exist only in Anna's troubled mind, which is highly sensitive to works of art. These are internal diegetic sounds (inside of a character's mind) that no one else in the gallery can hear.

On the other hand, the Ennio Morricone eerie score that sets up the scene and mixes with the battle sounds, is a common example of non-diegetic sound, sounds that only the spectators can hear. (Obviously, no boom-box blasting tourist is allowed into the Uffizi's gallery!)

URL: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysisLast Modified: August 27, 2002Certifying Authority: Film Studies ProgramCopyright © 2002 Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520

Mise-en-Scene

Setting

Costume and Make-Up

Costume simply refers to the clothes that characters wear. Costume in narrative cinema is used to signify character, or advertise particular fashions, or to make clear distinctions between characters.

Lighting

Figure Expression and Movement

There is enormous historical and cultural variation in performance styles in the cinema. Early melodramatic styles, clearly indebted to the 19th century theater, gave way in Western cinema to a relatively naturalistic style. There are many alternatives to the dominant style: the kabuki-influenced performances of kyu-geki Japanese period films, the use of non-professional actors in Italian neorealism, the typage of silent Soviet Cinema, the improvisatory practices of directors like John Cassavettes or Eric Rohmer, the slapstick comedy of Laurel and Hardy, or the deadpan of Buster Keaton and Jacques Tatí, not to mention the exuberant histrionics of Bollywood films.

Paradox of Horror• Why do we want to "escape" with a genre that

stimulates fear and anxiety as it considers horrible events?

• Some people argue that horror causes people to think and act in unhealthy, morbid ways.

• How would you respond?

• Could this be true of other genres too?

• What relationship, if any, do you see between violence in real life as reported in the mass media and interest in horror fiction?

• Between horror film and horror books?

• Is horror really more about shock value than telling a good story?